Face steamer



Nov. 28, 1933.

c. A. BUTLER I 1,937,316

FACE STEAMER Filed Oct. 23, 1951 Patented Nov. 28, 1933 FACE STEAMER Cora A. Butler, Chicago, Ill.

Application October 23, 1931. Serial No. 570,598

3 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in face steamers;

The present invention relates to a vaporizing appliance for use in facial treatments, and for 5 the production of a medicated vapor in cases of illness aifecting the respiratory passages, and in all other cases in which a treatment of steam or other medicated vapor is desired.

Appliances of the character to which the prescut invention is directed are frequently used in barber shops or beauty parlors where a supply of gas is available for heating purposes, but in other cases where the device is desired for use in a hotel room or other place where electricity alone is available, provision must be made for electric heating rather than by gas, and the present invention is particularly designed for interchangeable use either with gas or with electricity.

I Further objects and details will appear from a description of the invention, in conjLmction with the accompanying drawing, wherein,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the device as a whole; and

Fig. 2 an enlarged elevation partly in section showing the use of an electric plate for heating purposes where gas is not available.

The device as a whole comprises a tank or retort 10 which is upwardly tapered to afford 3 connection for a goose neck pipe 11, to the outer end of which is secured a cup 12 adapted to contain medicinal ingredients and which is closed by a cap 13. Steam or medicated vapor is dis charged from a discharge duct 14 having a 3 flared mouth 15.

A bracket 16 is provided which serves to support a hood, towel, or the like, which may be thrown over the head and neck or" the user to conserve the steam or vapor and permit it to act upon the face, or to be inhaled, as the case may be.

The above features of the present invention are not in themselves new, and further description thereof is deemed unnecessary.

The retort 10 is configured to aiTord a bead or flange 17 which is adapted to fit within aligned grooves 18 in the arms 19, which are inturned below the retort and unite in a plate 20 which constitutes a portion of a gas burner, and is I provided with a plurality of openings 21 adapted to discharge gas for heating purposes in cases where gasis available.

The plate 20 fits upon a chambered head 22 provided with three diverging legs 23 which afford a wide spreading support for the retort and the members carried thereby; and the plate 2i) is secured to the chambered head 22 by a through bolt 24, the arrangement affording a chamber into which gas is admitted through a duct 25 to which a gas pipe may be attached.

support above described is designed and configured to mount an electric heating plate 26 of circular or disk shaped formation, which contains resistance elements which need not be described in detail, and which is supplied with current through a coupling or connection 27 having current wires 28 leading to a convenient source of supply for electric current.

The electric plate or disk 26 rests upon the inturned flange 29 or" a flaring collar 30, the upper of which overlaps and closely embraces the margin of the base of the retort, and the parts are proportioned and fitted so that when the electric plate is in place it will be held firmly and snugly against the base of the retort so as to heat the retort in the most effective manner, and at the same time the heat is conserved and directed upwardly by the flaring collar 30 which embraces the base of the retort. I

The flaring collar 30 is itself held in place within fingers 31 upturned from the margin of the plate 20, so that with the parts assembled as indicated in Fig. l, and with the retort held firmly in place by the tightening of a set screw 32, there will be no possibility of wobbling o1 displacement of any of the parts, and the heater as a whole will be united into a rigid structure with the electric heating plate firmly held in place against the base of the retort. I

Where gas is available as the source for heating, the electric plate with the flaring ring 30 will be removed from the position shown, and in these circumstances the retort will be held by the arms 19 in spaced relation above the gas burner.

The device is designed to utilize the gas burner as a base or support for the steamer, and to also adequately provide for the insertion and use of the electric heating appliance where the same is desired in lieu of gas.

By providing for the inclusion of an electric heating appliance, the present device is made available for use under many conditions under which it would be impossible to use it if gas ,7 alone were relied upon as the heating medium.

I claim:

1. In a steamer of the class described, the combination of a retort and means for discharging vapor therefrom, a base member comprising downwardly and outwardly diverging legs united at their upper ends in a head, a plurality of arms having their lower ends united in a plate carried by the head and having their upper ends in engaging relation with the body of the retort above the base thereof and in position to support the base above the plate, a disk-shaped electric heating element carried by the plate below the base of the retort and in contact with said base, and a plurality of fingers upstanding from the plate and surrounding the disk-shaped heating element and adapted to hold the same in position beneath the base of the retort.

2. In a steamer of the class described, the combination of a retort and means for discharging vapor therefrom, a base member comprising downwardly and outwardly diverging legs united at their upper ends in a head, a plurality of arms having their lower ends united in a plate carried by the head and having their upper ends in engaging relation with the body of the retort above the base thereof and in position to support the base above the plate, a

disk-shaped electric heating element carried by the plate below the base of the retort and in contact with said base, a plurality of fingers upstanding from the plate and surrounding the disk-shaped heating element and adapted to hold the same in position beneath the base of the retort, and a ring-shaped collar interposed between the fingers and the heating element and having its upper margin in engaging relation with the rim of the base of the retort to direct the heat against the base of the retort.

3. In a steamer of the class described, the combination of a retort and a laterally extending vapor discharge pipe provided at its outer end with a towel bracket adapted to support a towel or the like at a substantial distance from the center of support of the retort, a base member comprising downwardly and outwardly diverging legs united at their upper ends in a head, a plurality of arms having their lower ends united in a plate carried by the head and having their upper ends in engaging relation with the body of the retort above the base thereof and in position to support the base above the plate, a disk-shaped electric heating element carried by the plate below the base of the retort and in contact with said base, a plurality of fingers upstanding from the plate and surrounding the disk-shaped heating element and adapted to hold the same in position beneath the base of the retort, and a ring-shaped collar interposed between the fingers and the heating element and having its upper margin in engaging relation with the rim of the base of the retort to direct the heat against the base of the retort.

CORA A. BUTLER. 

